Description

A user's home directory is intended to contain that user's files; including text documents, music, pictures or videos, etc. It may also include their configuration files of preferred settings for any software they have used there and might have tailored to their liking: web browserbookmarks, favorite desktopwallpaper and themes, passwords to any external services accessed via a given software, etc. The user can install executable software in this directory, but it will only be available to users with permission to this directory. The home directory can be organized further with the use of sub-directories.

The content of a user's home directory is protected by file system permissions, and by default is accessible to all authenticated users and administrators. Any other user that has been granted administrator privileges has authority to access any protected location on the filesystem including other users home directories.

Service (economics)

Service provision is often an economic activity where the buyer does not generally, except by exclusive contract, obtain exclusive ownership of the thing purchased. The benefits of such a service, if priced, are held to be self-evident in the buyer's willingness to pay for it. Public services are those, that society (nation state, fiscal union, regional) as a whole pays for, through taxes and other means.

By composing and orchestrating the appropriate level of resources, skill, ingenuity, and experience for effecting specific benefits for service consumers, service providers participate in an economy without the restrictions of carrying inventory (stock) or the need to concern themselves with bulky raw materials. On the other hand, their investment in expertise does require consistent service marketing and upgrading in the face of competition.

Characteristics

Server (computing)

A server is a computer program or a device that waits for requests from other devices or software (called "clients") and responds to them. A server typically processes data. The purpose of a server is to share data or resources among clients. The clients may run on the same computer or may connect to the server over a network. Typical computing servers are database servers, file servers, mail servers, print servers, web servers, game servers, and application servers. Designating a computer as "server-class hardware" implies that it is more powerful and reliable than standard personal computers or is specialized for performing the server's role. Servers may be composed of large clusters of relatively simple, replaceable machines.

History

The use of the word server in computing comes from queuing theory, where it dates to the mid 20th century, being notably used in Kendall (1953) (along with "service"), the paper that introduced Kendall's notation. In earlier papers, such as the Erlang (1909), more concrete terms such as "[telephone] operators" are used.